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A new report on nearly 3 million people has found that those whose body mass index ranked them
as overweight had less risk of early death than people of normal weight.

The report, although not the first to suggest this relationship between BMI and mortality, is by
far the largest and most carefully done, analyzing nearly 100 studies, experts said.

Experts not involved in the research said it suggested that overweight people need not panic
unless they have other indicators of poor health and that, depending on where fat is in the body,
it might be protective or even nutritional for older or sicker people. But overall, piling on
pounds and becoming more than slightly obese remains dangerous.

“We wouldn’t want people to think, ‘Well, I can take a pass and gain more weight,’ ” said Dr.
George Blackburn, associate director of Harvard Medical School’s nutrition division.

Rather, he and others said, the report, in
The Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that BMI, a ratio of height to
weight, should not be the only indicator of healthy weight.

Dr. Steven Heymsfield, executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in
Louisiana, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, said that for overweight people, if
indicators like cholesterol “are in the abnormal range, then that weight is affecting you,” but if
indicators are normal, there’s no reason to “go on a crash diet.”

Experts also said the data suggested that the definition of “normal” BMI, 18.5 to 24.9, should
be revised.

While obese people had a greater mortality risk overall, those at the lowest obesity level (BMI
of 30 to 34.9) were not more likely to die than normal-weight people.

But, “once you have higher obesity, the fat’s in the fire,” Blackburn said.